Global Water Resources (NASDAQ:GWRS) Lowered to Hold Rating by Freedom Capital

Freedom Capital lowered shares of Global Water Resources (NASDAQ:GWRS) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on GWRS. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Global Water Resources from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Roth Mkm set a $15.00 target price on shares of Global Water Resources in a research note on Monday, November 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Global Water Resources presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $15.00.

Global Water Resources Stock Up 4.1%

GWRS stock traded up $0.32 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $8.15. The stock had a trading volume of 178,421 shares, compared to its average volume of 58,648. The business has a 50-day moving average of $8.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $9.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The firm has a market cap of $234.39 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.51 and a beta of 0.96. Global Water Resources has a 52-week low of $7.67 and a 52-week high of $11.84.

Global Water Resources (NASDAQ:GWRS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 4th. The utilities provider reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.04 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $13.54 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.73 million. Global Water Resources had a net margin of 5.30% and a return on equity of 4.73%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Global Water Resources will post 0.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Water Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 17th will be issued a $0.0253 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 17th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. Global Water Resources’s payout ratio is presently 300.00%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GWRS. CWM LLC grew its holdings in Global Water Resources by 6.7% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 14,918 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $154,000 after purchasing an additional 932 shares during the period. Redmond Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Global Water Resources by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC now owns 330,272 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,402,000 after buying an additional 1,685 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of Global Water Resources by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 45,186 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $382,000 after acquiring an additional 1,784 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers grew its stake in shares of Global Water Resources by 12.0% during the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 17,595 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $181,000 after acquiring an additional 1,884 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in Global Water Resources by 16.5% in the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 13,440 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $138,000 after acquiring an additional 1,900 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.91% of the company’s stock.

About Global Water Resources

Global Water Resources, Inc (NASDAQ:GWRS) is a publicly traded holding company based in Scottsdale, Arizona, specializing in the ownership and management of water and wastewater utilities. The company provides critical potable water delivery, wastewater collection and treatment, and reclaimed water services to residential, commercial and industrial customers across select communities in Central and Southern Arizona.

The company operates multiple regulated utility systems, serving communities such as Anthem, Biltmore, Florence and San Tan Valley.